To Samuel Quincy

[dateline] April 22d. 1761

[salute] Dr. Sir

Since you claim a Promise I will perform as well as I can. The Letter so long talked
of, is but a Mouse though the offspring of a pregnant Mountain. However, if amidst
the cares of business, the gay diversions of the Town, the sweet refreshments of private
study, and the joyful expectations of approaching Wedlock,1 you can steal a moment to read a letter from an old Country-friend, I shall chearfully
transcribe it, such as it is, without the least alteration, or the least labor to
connect this preamble to the subsequent Purview.

The Review of an old Letter from you upon original Composition and original Genius,
has raised a war in my mind.2 “Scraps of Verse, sayings of Philosophers,” the received opinion of the World, and
my own reflections upon all, have thrown my imagination into a Turmoil, like the reign
of Rumour in Milton, or the jarring elements in Ovid, Where

Most writers have represented Genius as a rare Phenomenon, a { 49 } Phoenix. Bolingbroke says, “God mingles sometimes among the societies of Men, a few
and but a few, of Those on whom he is graciously pleased to bestow a larger portion
of the aetherial spirit, than in the ordinary Course of his Providence he bestows
on the Sons of Men.” Mr. Pope will tell you, that this “vivida vis animi, is to be
found in very few, and that the utmost stretch of study, learning, and industry, can
never attain to This.” Dr. Cheyne4 shall distinguish between his Quick-thinkers, and Slow-thinkers, and insinuate that
the former are extreamly scarce.

We have a becoming Reverence for the authority of these Writers, and of many Others
of the same Opinion—but we may be allowed to fear that the vanity of the human heart,
had too great a share in determining these Writers that Opinion.

The same vanity which gave rise to that strange religious Dogma, that God elected
a precious few (of which few however every Man who believes the doctrine is always
One) to Life eternal without regard to any foreseen Virtue, and reprobated all the
Rest, without regard to any foreseen Vice—A doctrine which, with serious gravity,
represents the world, as under the government of Humour and Caprice, and which Hottentots
and Mohawks would reject with horror.

If the orthodox doctrine of Genius is not so detestable as that of unconditional Election,
it is not much less invidious, nor much less hurtful. One represents eternal life,
as an unattainable Thing without the special favor of the Father—and even with that
attainable by very few, one of a Tribe or two of a Nation, and so tends to discourage
the practice of virtue. The other represents the talents to excell as extreamly scarce,
indulged by Nature to very few, and unattainable by all the Rest, and therefore tends
to discourage Industry. You and I shall never be persuaded or frightened either by
Popes or Councils, Poets or Enthusiasts, to believe that the world of nature, learning
and grace is governed by such arbitrary Will or inflexible fatality. We have much
higher Notions of the efficacy of human endeavours in all Cases.

It is not improbable (as some Men are taller, stronger, fairer &c., than Others) that
some may be by the Constitution of their bodies more sensible than others, so some
may be said to be born with greater geniuses than others—and the middle point between
that of the most perfect organization and the least perfect, in an healthy Child,
that is not an Idiot nor a Monster, is the point of Common Sense. It is therefore
likely, there are as many who have more than Common Sense, and so may be in different
degrees denominated great { 50 } geniuses, as there are who have less, and these surely will not by Mr. Pope, my Lord
Bolingbroke, or Dr. Cheyne, be thought extreamly few.—The falacy seems to lie here.
We define Genius to be the innate Capacity, and then vouchsafe this flattering Title
only to Those few, who have been directed, by their birth, education and lucky accidents,
to distinguish themselves in arts and sciences, or in the execution of what the World
calls great Affairs, instead of planting Corn, freighting Oysters, and killing Deer,
the worthy employments in which most great Geniuses are engaged—for in truth according
to that definition the world swarms with Them.

Go down to the Market-place, and enquire of the first Butcher you see, about his birth,
education and the fortunes of his Life, and in the course of his rude history, you
will find as many instances of Invention (Mr. Pope's Criterion of genius) as you will
find in the works of most of the celebrated Poets. Go on board an Oyster-boat, and
converse with the Skipper, he will relate as many instances of invention, and intrepidity
too, as you will find in the lives of many British Admirals, who shine in history
as the ornaments of their Country. Enquire of a Gunner in Braintree-bay, or of an
Hunter upon the Frontiers of this Province, and you will hear of as many artful devices
to take their Game, as you will read in the lives of Caesar, or Charles or Frederick.
And as genius is more common, it seems to me it is much more powerful than is generally
thought. For this mighty favour of Nature, of which the Poets and Orators, Philosophers
and Legislators of the world, have been in all ages so proud and which has been represented
as sufficient of itself to the formation of all those Characters—is so far otherwise,
that if you pick out your great Men, from Greek or Roman, and from English history,
and suppose them born and bred in Eskimeaux or Caffraria, Patagonia or Lapland, no
Man would imagine that any great effects from their genius would have appeared.

Mr. Pope tells us, that De la Motte5 confesses, in whatever age Homer had lived, he must have been the greatest Poet of
his Nation—but in my humble opinion, Mr. Waller6 was nearer the truth when he said, that in certain Circumstances.

“The Conqueror of the world had been,

But the first Wrestler on the Green.”

The gods sell all Things to Industry, and Invention among the Rest. The Sequel upon
Industry, you may possibly have sometime or other, but remember it is not promised
by,

Early Tr (Adams Papers); apparently in Samuel Quincy's later hand; addressed: “To Mr. Saml. Quincy Attorney
at Law. Boston”; docketed: “Copy of Mr. Adams's Letter to me, Samuel Quincy [name inserted in a different hand] on original Composition &c. April 22d. 1761.” For provenance of this text see CFA's note in JA, Works, 1:645. Obvious errors made in copying have been silently corrected.

2. No earlier letter from Samuel Quincy to JA has been found, but that they had been in the habit of correspondence since leaving
college in successive years is indicated by plentiful evidence. Apparently JA had long promised an answer to a letter from Quincy “upon original Composition and
original Genius”—subjects, or, rather, a subject much discussed in literary and philosophical
circles in the 18th century. (A discussion by JA himself is in his Earliest Diary, p. 72–73.) The present effusion, characterized by JA as “but a Mouse” from “a pregnant Mountain,” is his attempt to fulfill his promise.

3. “Nothing remains in the same shape; each was at odds with all the others” (Metamorphoses, bk. I, lines 17–18).

4. George Cheyne (1671–1743), British physician and a prolific writer of popular medical works (DNB). JA had for a time followed Cheyne's rigorous dietary regimen (Diary and Autobiography, 3:269).

6. Edmund Waller (1606–1687), British poet, best known for his verses in the “cavalier” tradition (DNB).

Docno: ADMS-06-01-02-0040

Author: Adams, John

Date: 1761-05

This is a summary of a document and does not contain a transcription. If it is available
elsewhere in this digital edition, a page number link will be provided below in the
paragraph beginning "Printed."

Draft of a Letter to the Boston Gazette on the Evils of Licensed Houses

Inventory of Deacon John Adams' Estate

[dateline] [Boston, 9 October 1761]

A true Inventory1 of the Estate whereof John Adams late of Braintree Gent. dec[ease]d died seized and Appraised according to the best skill and Judgment of Elisha Savil,
Joseph Feild and Elijah Belcher, Viz.

Suffolk ss. John Adams one of the Executors presented the afore-written and made Oath
that it contains a true and perfect Inventory of the Estate of John Adams deceased
so far as has come to his hands and knowledge, and that if more appears hereafter
he will Cause it to be added. The Subscribing Appraisers were sworn as the Law directs.

[dateline] Boston Octo. 9. 1761.

[signed] T. Hutchinson

[signed] A true Copy Examd.Per Wm. Cooper Reg.

MS (Adams Papers); contemporary copy in an unidentified hand, including appended certification by
Probate Judge Thomas Hutchinson; attested and signed by William Cooper, Register;
docketed by JA: “Inventory.”

1. This Inventory was required by the grant of probate, 10 July 1761, to be presented
to the court on or before 10 Oct.; see above, Will of Deacon John Adams, &c., under
date of 8 Jan. 1760–29 April 1774.

2. Cran: “An iron instrument, laid across the fire, reaching from the ribs of the grate
to the hinder part of it, for the purpose of supporting a pot or kettle” (OED).